Melbourne music lovers still have a hole in their hearts after their adored Palace Theatre was demolished so it could be rebuilt as apartment buildings, and adding more salt to the wound, it looks like a treasured local radio station’s future may be in jeopardy thanks to the construction of an apartment complex.
Triple R, situated on 221 Nicholson Street of Brunswick East, one of Australia’s largest independent radio stations, has raised fears that it may not be able to broadcast due to development plans that wish to erect a six storey building near the station, as Beat (via The Age) reports.
The proposed new residential infrastructure will comprise of 28 apartments and a retail tenant (a café) and will be built at 122-124 Nicholson Street, which has seen Triple R voice concerns that the use of cranes will interfere with the signal sent from their antenna, disturbing the station’s frequency and thus disabling Triple R’s overall broadcast abilities.
Triple R station manager Dave Houchin explains, “the antenna is aligned approximately parallel with Blyth Street to the east, basically this means that it has quite a high gain but only over a fairly narrow angle. Its objective is to maximise the signal getting to the target-receive antenna some 35 kilometres away.”
The 122-124 space was sold to Mandrian Development in October of last year, and had only been approved by council to build a four storey apartment complex, however since then, developers have pushed for the full six levels, and are taking their case to Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in hopes of gaining the two additional storeys for approval.
Nothing has been set in stone yet and we’re certain that Triple R, a non-for-profit radio station that has broadcast since 1976, will have an army of supporters rushing to their defence.
Mandrian Development’s case will not be heard until May this year.
